Remember - Book 2 of The Butch Lesbian Series

new beginnings

mount omega college, 2:59 pm

"Hey, Macey, tell Roland that it's his turn today," Evan teased, swiping out his phone from under his desk while the old lady was still lecturing about photosynthesis behind us.

"Sure, whatever," I replied briefly, right before the bell rang for the end of the school day and marked the beginning of a chorus of loud moaning from sitting down and hearing about "the fascinating process plants use to make food" for the past two hours. "I hate this mandatory biology class," I said as everyone was filing out of the classroom.

Evan, my boyfriend Roland's hunk of a best friend, replied with an annoyed grunt.

"Evan Andres, can I please see you for a second?" our teacher, Mrs. Huffman (more popularly referred to as "the old lady") requested.

Evan and I exchanged a glance.

"Meet you at the front?" Evan asked quickly, pointing towards the direction.

I responded with a quick nod and proceeded to get the hell out of there so I wouldn't have to burst out laughing at him in front of the old gal. Though usually extremely crowded, I managed to squeeze my way through the hallways every single day due to my renowned reputation at school. They say being a popular kid dating the hottest boy in college is rough yet rewarding, but it's a whole lot worse than it seems.

I still had to decide what to do while Evan was probably getting roasted back there but made a stupid choice to enter the girls bathroom to touch up on my powder for a date I had with Roland in the evening. 

I politely pushed open the door, set my bag on the ground, and proceeded to shuffle around to find my makeup bag. Once my fingernails brushed the top zipper of the bag, I picked it up and set it on the little stand next to the sink. I sighed and pulled out my comb as well. These tangles don't fix themselves, I thought. While brushing my feathery, wavy dark brunette locks, I stumbled across a few strands I haven't noticed for what seemed like years tangled somewhere in the forests of hair I possessed. They were seemingly died a turquoise blue, a shade that I had a hard time relating to anything.

Right before I set my comb down, a small little flashback from my freshman year four years ago played in my head. There seemed to be this girl—a girl that I liked—named...Jennifer? Wait no. That couldn't have been it. It was like Allie but not really that cute-sounding. Her name sounded more masculine and she even had a badass nickname that came with it it was almost like—I stopped thinking so intensely for a second and it dawned on me. Elle Willis. The vamp that'll rip your heart.

She—she was the one who dyed my hair. That summer with my brother. The memories came flooding back like another flash flood immediately after one disaster had already been solved for. I thought long and hard for a while. About the time I came back, when my parents found out about the whole situation. I was frozen for at least three months, but during that time, they took advantage of my mental state and picked up the puppeteer strings and started playing. The name change. The funeral. The boy. The date. The love. Even the sex. It all seemed so fake yet it was so real.

I took a deep breath. Just as I was closing off my thought bubble and opening my makeup bag after combing out the tangles in my hair, a recognizable voice seemed to be coming from behind the door. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Evan kicked the door of the ladies' bathroom open with both hands holding up his test that shone with the gold letters that looked like the baby of an angel.

"I GOT A C-!" Evan bellowed, attracting quite a bit of attention from the girls inside the bathroom just trying to have some time to piss and shit.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I shouted, pushing him out and hastily packing all my belongings and leaving with him. At this point, the hallways were—thank God—empty.

"I know I'm probably going to regret that but I'm just so happy that I did it!"

"What is there to celebrate? You literally didn't even reach passing."

"So? C- is always been better than an F."

"Touché. But you really should concentrate more on them A's than trying to get ripped so girls will like you more," I laughed, nudging him with my arm.

"Stop teasing me. Even you rejected me freshman year of college."

I cringed while remembering that time.

"Hey, don't look so uncomfortable. I've already dated like half the school's girls. Even a janitor once, I think. We're cool as friends," Evan laughed.

But my mind was elsewhere. On that one summer at Aidan's. With the girl. The girl I—

"Baby!" Roland greeted me with a sudden smack on the lips as we approached the front exit of the building. "I thought you were lost since you were gone that long," he cooed, leaning in for more kisses.

"Aye, aye. Please, keep the PDA at a low, por favor," Evan interrupted, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Why? Is it cause your girl of the week ain't as sexy as mine of the year?" Roland smiled seductively as he pulled me in closer.

"Fuckin shut up already. We're leaving. Come on Macey." Evan tugged at my arm until he eventually got ahold of me. He ended up having to drag me out of the building until we reached where Roland had parked in the morning. "You all right? Ya seemed a lil disturbed back there."

"I'm—I'm fine. It's not Roland or anything—just my mind playing tricks with me," I replied briefly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Roland eventually caught up and almost slapped Evan before I stopped him.

"You son of a—"

"Hey, hey, calm down babe. I wouldn't want any one of you guys getting hurt, so save me some time to relax, please," I interrupted.

"I love you too Macey, but he ruined our moment and I'd rather hurt him in the moment while he's here than have to cross you. Besides, is that really what you'd want?" Roland gave me his pouty-eyed yet devilish smirk that I found unconvincing.

"Don't create a scene," I muttered, under my breath, as quite a few people in the parking lot were passing by and staring.

As I imagined, a woman suddenly intervened and came up to us from behind. "Hi, is everything all right over here?"

Still staring at Roland and telling him with my eyes to shut up and stop, I answered, "Yeah, yeah. Everything's okay. No need to worry."

The woman paused for a second as I did too. There was this familiar perfume of hers she was wearing that tantalized my senses. As if—she and I have met before?

I slowly turned around and was met with the palest yet most authentic emerald green eyes. And it dawned on me.

"Elle?"